Social networking websites, such as JUSTSYNC.com, allow users to connect with their contacts, which includes friends, family, and co-workers using technology. Users can keep up with each other's lives, send each other messages, post on each other's profiles, and play games with each other. There is an ever-increasing need for websites to make social networking more entertaining, as users grow tired of traditional social networking activities. Consequently, social networking games, such as FARMVILLE, MAFIA WARS, and the like have come about, adding an extra dimension to the social networking experience, however the demand for new and entertaining games is growing strongly.
A common issue with social networking websites is that many people have so many contacts, that they forget who their contacts are and sometimes they accept contact requests for people they do not know. A game has attempted to capitalize on this phenomenon for entertainment purposes, namely “How Many Friends Do You Know”, which can be found at: http://howmanyfriendsdoyouknow.appspot.com/. This game consists of showing users a single picture of a friend at a time, and requiring that the user identify the friend by typing in the friend's exact name within a certain period of time.
This game is flawed, however, because rarely do users know both first and last names of their friends', let alone the exact spelling of both names. Furthermore, having to type in friends' names is cumbersome, and does not lend itself well to a dynamic fun online game.